Congratulations Indonesian Garudas

[ronrat]

The boys won their first ever game yesterday against India. 60-8 at the International cup. Best player for the 4 games I saw was a chinese -indo kid called Vincent who has only been playing for 6 months. Clearly the smallest side in the 18 team competition the Garudas who had never played together or on a full sized ground were at least enthusiastic. Everyone of the players shook my hand and others and thanked us for turning up to watch. Some had tears in their eyes. The 5 goal 3rd quarter was a ripper and the coaches and support staff were beside themselves. Every game was an improvement. Thank you Garudas for making football enjoyable again for me to watch.

As a whole the tournament was a joy to watch.Contested pack marks, maniacal tackling, 25 metre penalties, umpires (except one dick) paying on what they saw, oranges at quarter breaks, players having team photos after every game. PNG play Ireland in the mens and a Canadian team play Ireland in the gals today and good luck to all.

The SBS Indonesian lady gave me a big hug and I asked her to send me a signed Janice Peterson photo.

And a big thank you to all the volunteers .

No thanks to the media or the AFL whose advertising regime was shithouse. Or the embarassing and condescending Aunty Joy opening ceremony that hijacked a great occasion and turned into a 30 minute history rewrite full of deceit and arselicking (by the Premier) and insulting to several countries including dipping the USA flag and slagging off the British. And an athlethes oath when the AFL is hellbent on getting Essendon off.